Message to Candidates and Recruiters: What should you do after the job interview?
So this is my second stint of providing HR advices to the ones who are about to take that job leap or just starting to find one.
To CANDIDATES:
Many of us treat interview like some sort of interrogation and we are afraid of the results after leaving one. What should be the right mindset when you get into an interview?
1. It is not an interrogation but rather a conversation. Many of us fear it that much that we fail to express who we are because we think we are not good enough or that person is not gonna like us or whatsoever. When you’re natural and calm like you’re just in a conversation, you get to speak better and think better and answer the questions of the interviewer better. When you’re faced with an interviewer with a hostile attitude or wants to humiliate you, be the bigger person and address that you’re not someone who should be treated that way. It reflects the kind of environment you are about to be in if you decide to join that organization. Know that you’re worthy of a good and humane treatment and just move on to other prospective employers. Unless you signed up for an advertising agency, but I still believe that we deserve to be treated as humans.
2. “Maybe they won’t like meâ€. Well the truth is, we forget we also have the power to not like them (employer). Isn’t it a two-way street? Would you like to work for someone who doesn’t listen to your answers when you were speaking? Rather, think of the qualifications of the employer too such as is it the right environment, the kind of leader you will look up to, the kind of environment which supports growth? There are a lot of things to consider. Don’t focus on their reactions to you but also your reactions to them and what you both can bring to the table ??
AFTER THE INTERVIEW:
Okay congratulations you’ve done it! Is it good or is it bad? Well, a better mindset would be: what went right and what could be improved? The latter is something you should think of after leaving the interview because it’s the valuable lesson you should apply the next time you appear to an interview. Don’t fret over a question you were not able to answer or a stutter you committed while speaking. It’s natural and don’t be too hard on yourself. You will do better the next time! If you’re not accepted, move on to the next. Maybe it’s just not the right employer for you at the moment. :)
Thank the interviewer/s after the interview:
This is something I do every time I leave an interview. I normally have their emails or I have their LinkedIn profiles handy so I can shoot a message. I would send a thank you note for their time and how interested I am about the role (if I am) or just a simple thank you for letting you come and hear about the opportunity in person and see if it’s a fit. It shows that you’re a professional and that you really want the job and determined to make a point you’re the one. If it’s not a fit, it just shows you just care about leaving a message and grateful for their time. It doesn’t hurt to pay a few minutes to type that thank you and who knows if we might meet again right? That’s the power of forming a good relationship.
Every experience is an opportunity for learning new things. Don’t let not-so-good experience put you down, but use it to make yourself better the next time. It’s never a waste of time but a valuable learning opportunity.
To RECRUITERS:
Isn’t it hard when your special someone just left you out of the blue and never heard from them why they left? Well that is the same feeling for our candidates when we don’t give feedback.
I always practiced giving feedback or updates to candidates because that was how I was trained to do by my early mentors in HR (Ms Vanessa and Ms Meann from Maersk and Damco). I either give out personal feedback (the hardest), personally crafted message thru email using the actual feedback of the hiring manager (the most effective) or general update for rejection when I don’t have enough time to craft one anymore. The point is don’t leave your candidates hanging if they have a chance or not. You’ll never know if you’ll meet that person again in the future. He might have improved really well and would be a high potential candidate for the job in the future, and you don’t want to be in a position wherein you’ll be remembered as the recruiter who doesn’t care about the feelings of your candidates ??
It’s hard to juggle between expectations of the employer and the candidates but the most important is that we maintain the highest standard of service to be given to our internal and external stakeholders